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Mariota earns good grades in road test

TEMPE, Ariz. – He still hasn't faced the kind of nerve-jangling, pressurized moments that eventually arrive for all quarterbacks. For a team many are projecting into the BCS Championship game, among the

TEMPE, Ariz. – He still hasn't faced the kind of nerve-jangling, pressurized moments that eventually arrive for all quarterbacks. For a team many are projecting into the BCS Championship game, among the questions has been how Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota would handle himself in critical situations. Seven games into the season, there's precious little data for an assessment, but we learned at least a little more Thursday night, when the Ducks dominated Arizona State 43-21.

If it turned out to be a pop quiz rather than a full-blown exam, the redshirt freshman passed with no problem.

The trouble, maybe, is that he still hasn't faced any. Trouble, that is. Oregon keeps rolling over opponents. The victories have come so easily, how Mariota will respond to significant adversity remains unknown. But after fumbling the football on the game's second play, Mariota helped the Ducks turn a quick 7-0 deficit into a 43-7 lead in just less than 20 minutes.

That's something.

"Maybe some people learned things, but that's what we expect out of him," Oregon coach Chip Kelly said. "We see him do that all the time. … The same thing we talked about: Going on the road and playing in a (hostile) environment was gonna be a test for him, and I thought he did a really nice job."

Mariota's talent isn't in question. Of recent Oregon quarterbacks, Mariota most resembles Dennis Dixon, a dual threat who was the Heisman frontrunner and had Oregon on track for a BCS Championship game berth in 2007 before blowing out a knee. Like Dixon, Mariota's skill set seems perfectly suited for Kelly's spread option. He's an accurate passer with a decent arm. He's tall, athletic and fast. For evidence, replay his 86-yard touchdown run Thursday on the zone read. All of which means the quarterback run game reemerges as part of Kelly's playbook, making the Ducks potentially even more difficult to contain.

The playbook, by the way, hasn't been limited. Oregon offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich said Mariota has handled full game plans from the beginning. "We've never had to rein him back in any way, mentally or schematically," Helfrich said.

At least as important, Mariota has so far exhibited a relaxed confidence that seems similar to Dixon's. But Dixon was a senior who had been through hard times. Mariota is just getting started, and he's had it pretty good. Oregon has been so dominant against underwhelming opponents (though he certainly has played an important role in the dominance), it has been difficult to gauge his progress.

It's possible nothing will change, even as the schedule toughens. More likely, Oregon's season will come down at some point to the performance of the redshirt freshman. He'll have to make a perfect throw or the right decision – or a quick rebound after making the wrong one. Or all of the above, on the fly with everything on the line. What little evidence there is suggests the Ducks are in good hands.

After the fact, it's easy enough to lump Arizona State in with the Ducks' earlier opponents, which have an 18-21 combined record. But Thursday was Oregon's first true road game, which made it Mariota's first, as well. And it came at night, on national TV, against a motivated opponent and an amped-up crowd.

Start with the fumble, because that's how everything started. Arizona State defensive tackle Will Sutton blasted into the backfield and disrupted Mariota's handoff attempt. Mariota had barely gotten to the sideline when Taylor Kelly fired a 28-yard touchdown pass to give Arizona State the lead.

Never mind that the turnover wasn't necessarily Mariota's fault – "Two guys whiffed," Helfrich said – or that in retrospect, the idea that the Sun Devils might pull an upset seems crazy. In the moment, less than a minute after the opening kickoff, on the road with a revved-up crowd, the momentum swing was real. To hear Helfrich tell it, Mariota wasn't upset.

"I wasn't worried about him at all," Helfrich said. "There's no limit to my confidence in him. But at the same time you just have to do it. That's probably more for him and for his teammates to kind of go, 'OK this guy is as cool of a customer after getting hit in the face the second play of the game as he is when you're up 45-0."

Mariota said he was "motivated" by the turnover.

"It was, 'We've got to go now,' " he said. "We knew this was a game. We had to go out and get some points."

They went out and got plenty, and in a hurry. The highlights were Kenjon Barner's 71-yard run and Mariota's 86-yarder. But Mariota also led drives of 14 plays, 74 yards and 15 plays, 78 yards that combined chewed up more than eight minutes. The Ducks' dominance was so complete, Mariota threw for only 46 yards – on 9-of-12 passing, including a nice fade for a touchdown.

He rushed for 135. Just for fun, he also caught a touchdown pass on an improvised push-pass from backup quarterback Bryan Bennett. Mariota didn't play in the second half.

So far, Mariota has benefited from blowouts. He's made mistakes – and his teammates have made some, too – and he's "played through," according to Helfrich, without getting rattled.

At some point, the Ducks will find themselves in a more difficult situation. Not next week against Colorado, but maybe Nov. 3 at USC. If the Los Angeles Coliseum turns into a hostile cauldron and the Ducks' hopes suddenly hinge on Mariota – say late fourth quarter, with a game and the season on the line – what then? How does Mariota respond?

The sample size remains too small to accurately predict. But the early returns are positive.